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TCHC launches class action over faulty elevator device

The public housing company's lawsuit could see a Scarborough firm paying out tens of millions of dollars to Ontario businesses.

By Donovan VincentStaff Reporter

Tues., Aug. 23, 2011

Toronto Community Housing has launched a class-action suit against an elevator company for a faulty braking device, which if successful could result in a multi-million-dollar payout to the public housing corporation and other companies.

An Ontario Superior Court judge certified the class action earlier this month against Scarborough firm ThyssenKrupp Elevator, which developed a problematic braking system installed in about 2,000 elevators in Ontario.

The case centres on the “sheave jammer,” a secondary braking device designed to stop the movement of an elevator when the car’s primary control and braking systems don’t work properly.

The sheave jammers on some 2,000 traction elevators — which operate on steel ropes looped around a “sheave,” or pulley, turned by a motor to raise or lower the car — had to be replaced after the Technical Standards and Safety Authority discovered problems and ordered them removed.

The devices were originally installed between 1989 and 1991. But in February 2003, the TSSA received a report from ThyssenKrupp that a sheave jammer at the Windsor Casino failed to stop an elevator car from moving away from the floor with its doors open.

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In June 2003, Thyssen performed random tests. The TSSA representatives who were present noted a high failure rate, according to court documents.

In February 2005, the TSSA issued a notice warning that the sheave jammer might not operate properly, for various reasons, and required all elevators that had it to be tested quarterly.

ThyssenKrupp came up with modifications soon afterward, but on July 27, 2006, the TSSA issued an order to replace all of the sheave jammers with a device that met safety requirements, by Aug. 1, 2007.

ThyssenKrupp did most of the replacement work under its service contracts, typically charging about $12,000 per job.

TCHC, with its wealth of highrise units, ended up replacing 169 sheave jammers, at a cost of about $2 million. It launched the suit to recover its costs in complying with the safety order.

“We have fully complied with a Technical Standards and Safety Association order requiring us to replace all sheave jammers with alternate braking devices — in our case, rope grippers — to protect the safety of tenants,’’ TCHC spokesperson Jeffrey Ferrier said in a statement Tuesday.

Elevator problems have long been one of the major complaints among tenants in TCHC buildings, though TCHC says there were no safety-related incidents as a result of the device.

Besides TCHC, other businesses that paid to have the devices replaced include Ed Mirvish Enterprises — for three elevators in one of the company’s buildings.

ThyssenKrupp and lawyers representing the company in the case did not respond to a request from the Star for comment Thursday.

In opposing the class-action certification, Thyssen argued unsuccessfully that its devices varied depending on the type of elevator they were installed in, and the nature of the installation, and therefore the sheave jammer cannot be treated as a “class product.’’

Among its allegations, TCHC argued that ThyssenKrupp “breached their duty of care and were negligent in the design, manufacture and installation of the sheave jammers.’’

Meanwhile, TCHC has decided not to appeal the certification earlier this summer of a class-action suit brought against itself by tenants affected by last September’s fire at 200 Wellesley St., a TCHC building.

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